Lisle`s Board Says No To Block Party Curbs

The neighborhood block party, a phenomenon that has come to symbolize suburbia as much as the garage sale and curbside pick-up, has survived a regulatory challenge in Lisle.

The village board Monday night rejected a proposal that the village manager said would reduce the risk of accidents at block parties.

The only role most suburbs play in block parties is to provide two sawhorses from the public works department so residents can close off a street for a day.

But Lisle Mayor George Varney and Village Manager Carl Doerr had different thoughts when they squared off Monday after Doerr presented a proposal to regulate block parties.

Doerr, who also is a member of the village`s Executive Safety Committee, suggested that Lisle could reduce the risk of an accident at a block party and thereby reduce the risk of a liability suit if it accepted four committee proposals.

The committee suggested that the village restrict block parties to cul-de-sacs and dead-end streets, hold the events during daylight, prohibit playing or amplifying music on public property and build barricades blocks from the celebration to prevent party-crashing.

Doerr said he considered the proposals prudent planning. ``The Executive Safety Committee is in the business of preventing losses rather than trying to talk their way out of them,`` he said.

But Varney said the proposals would sign a ``death note`` for block parties, a village tradition, and added that he considered the recommendations an example of government overkill.

Varney said the restrictive measures would destroy the spirit of the parties.